Ben Affleck’s gentle return

Ben Affleck was on Kimmel last night to premiere a new trailer for Triple Frontier. The film premieres on Netflix March 13, also starring Charlie Hunnam, Oscar Isaac, and Garrett Hedlund. It looks like a hard movie, like they’re going through some SH-T. What I’m trying to say is that even though you get to look at those three dudes for two hours the trade-off is that it’s not exactly going to be light.

Ben’s kept a low profile the last few months to take care of himself, his mental health. He’s now ready to get back to work and it’s a gentle return. Jimmy Kimmel is a friend, has been for a long time. This is a safe space and in that space he was able to relax into the situation, tell some good anecdotes, give us some of the Affleck charm that we haven’t seen in a while. It’s there. It’s there in his story about trying to turn his son into a Patriots fan and decorating his entire room in Patriots gear, complete with a chair in the shape of Tom Brady?

It’s a good look, right?

Ben also gives everyone an industry update, confirming that, indeed, he is no longer involved with The Batman, explaining that he “couldn’t crack it”. I’m definitely pitching this to Duana for Show Your Work. Because, sometimes, yeah, there are some things you can’t crack. Here’s Ben Affleck on network late night television telling the audience that he couldn’t figure it out. Straight up. There’s nothing here about timing or everything happens for a reason, there’s no indirect language, a lot of words that don’t amount to much – no, he’s quite specific: “I couldn’t crack it”. It’s simple and SO complicated. Because the aftermath of not being able to crack something can f-ck you up. Especially if you’re high-achieving and have “cracked” so many projects that have gone on to success. Or get off on the rush of falling and climbing back up. When you attach your ascent, or re-ascent, to a BIG target. I’m not saying that that’s what Ben Affleck went through exactly but if he did, it would be understandable. That’s why this is such an interesting work discussion, DUANA. Failure can set us up for success – but should we name the failure first? Ben just did it. And that, too, is a good look.